Oosthuizen happy with his choice

Open champion Louis Oosthuizen does not believe opting to miss tuning up his links game ahead of the defence of his title next week will be detrimental to his chances.

The South African has flown to Silvis in Illinois for the John Deere Classic, stating he thinks having four days of guaranteed good weather will be better for him than negotiating the vagaries of the Inverness climate in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart.
Only time will tell if that proves to be the correct decision but his week has not got off to the best of starts after enduring a 36-hour journey from South Africa.
His onward trip to Sandwich on Sunday should be more straightforward though as the American tournament organisers have chartered a plane to ensure all Open competitors arrive in England without any problems.
Oosthuizen admits part of the reason he has chosen to play in the States this week is his attempt to fulfil his quota tournaments to retain his tour membership.
"I withdrew from the Memorial earlier in the year and so it's a tournament that's off my schedule that I need to get back," he said.
"It's a difficult year playing two tours. I need to get 15 (events) in America.
"It was (a) 50/50 (decision) but, at the end of the day, you're going to play in perfect weather over here.
"In Scotland you can get not great weather and I just felt I'd rather have proper week where I can play and work a bit on my game.
"I've known links golf quite a while and didn't feel it was too necessary to play a links course before the Open.
"The guys that play in Scotland definitely have a little bit more of an advantage playing a course like that before Royal St George's but to me it's a lot to do with the numbers, getting the numbers up for the year.
"It just made sense to come and play here and it made it a lot easier knowing that there's a plane straight from here and a 10-hour flight - which is a bit better than the trip I had to take here, which was 36 hours."
If Oosthuizen is to have any success in Illinois it is fair to suggest he will probably have to out-perform Steve Stricker.
The world number five has won the event for the last two years but, in a worrying statistic for Oosthuizen, has followed up those successes with finishes outside the top 50 at both subsequent Opens.
Stricker is playing down his chances of making it three in a row.
"I think the expectation level is high when you win a tournament and you come back and you expect more of the things that you had there the previous year," said the American, who is a combined 46 under par for this course in the last two years.
"And when they don't fall into place you may lose a little bit of confidence or that little bit of edge."
Winner of the tournament, or the first player in the top-five not already exempt, will receive a starting place at the Open.